Savior
by Broadway Babe WA
Summary: It's three years after the McKinly glee club graduated. Something bad has happened to Rachel who is now a Broadway star and she goes to Will for help. Collaborator mArTiNaMcBrIdErOx91
1. Chapter 1

**This is a collaboration story with BroadwayBabeWA. William Schuester runs into April again, 3 years after the current Group of New Directions has graduated from McKinley. He also faces another challenge, Rachel Berry's return to Lima. **

**DISCLAIMER: We own none of the recognizable material used in this story… unfortunately. BUT we do own the plot of this story… just not the characters.

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**GREYHOUND BUS STATION  
DAYTON, OHIO  
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2014**

Rachel Berry, who is now twenty three, sighed as her bus pulled into the station in Dayton. She'd been on the bus all night and was ready to sleep in a real bed. She however, was terrified to go home to her Daddies so she began contemplating who to call.

Kurt had moved to California, Quinn and Finn were together and had a daughter, Puck was seeing someone. Mercedes was also in California, and Artie and Tina were on their honeymoon.

She scrolled through her address book and stumbled upon a number of someone who might actually be helpful to her, William Schuester.

She nervously pressed call and prayed he'd answer, she was terrified as the phone began ringing and a very familiar "Hello," answered.

"Mr. Schue?" the young woman timidly asks.

"Rachel? What's up?" he asks, becoming a tad bit worried.

"Can… can you come get me? I'm in Dayton, at the Greyhound station…" the Broadway Actress replies, afraid of his response. She doesn't want him to turn her down because she wouldn't have anywhere to go that wasn't her Daddies' house.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" the man asks, beginning to think about how April would react when he explained to her that he'd have to go pick up Rachel from the bus station.

"Uhm, we'll talk about that later. Just please come get me, I'm scared someone's gonna recognize me." the woman timidly answers.

"Don't worry Rachel. I'm on my way, hang in there for about an hour okay?" the man replies.

"Thanks Schue…" Rachel quietly whispers and hangs up.

* * *

**WILLIAM SCHUESTER'S APARTMENT  
LIMA, OHIO  
12:45pm**

Will walks into his living room and looks at April, who's reading one of her textbooks. She'd recently come back from another failed journey to New York City and wanted to really finish her diploma. He smiles and sits down.

"April, I have to go run an errand…" he says, carefully choosing his words.

"What do you need? Can I come? I hate studying," the blonde woman asks.

"Hey, it would be better if you stayed. Rachel's back in town. She called me and sounded really scared, she's at the Greyhound station in Dayton and doesn't want to go to her Daddies. She asked me to come stay for awhile. And I'm not leaving her at a bus station all afternoon if something's wrong with her, I just want to make sure she's okay," the man explains.

"Oh, poor thing. Well, I hope she's okay. I guess I'm gonna stay here and make myself somethin' to eat," the woman replies.

The man grabs his keys and coat, an extra one for Rachel just incase, and smiles back at April when he walks out the door.

* * *

**45 MINUTES LATER  
GREYHOUND STATION  
DAYTON, OHIO**

William pulled in the parking lot and got out of the car. He dug in his pocket for his phone and dialed Rachel's number, hoping she was still okay.

"Mr… Schue?" the troubled actress answered.

"Rachel? I'm here, where are you?" the man calmly tells her.

"I… I'm sitting on the bench right inside the door. I'll walk outside and meet you…" the black haired woman tells him.

"Okay. Try to calm down okay? I'm here now." the curly haired Spanish teacher replies.

He hears the young woman take a deep breath and then the phone clicks, telling him she'd hung up. Five minutes later he is greeted by a woman wearing black sweatpants, an old McKinley Glee Club shirt, but no coat. This makes him wonder if she left in a hurry to get out of a bad situation. He notices that her eyes are tear stained.

"Rachel?" he calmly greets her.

"Mr. Schue?" She replies, biting back a fresh wave of tears. He smiles, and hands her the extra coat he'd brought. "Rachel, put this on. It's freezing. Are you alright?"

"Let's just get out of the cold. I'm really, really tired," the woman says, taking the coat and walking towards his car.

"Okay Rachel…" he replies, smiling when she gets to his beat up car faster than him.

~•~•~•~•~•~

The ride to Mr. Schue's apartment was pretty quiet except for a bit of small talk and the humming of the engine and the radio. Rachel fell asleep shortly after they left the station, but was pretty restless in her sleep and he was getting worried.

The majority of the ride was okay, until they were about five minutes from the apartment complex. Rachel had been pretty restless throughout the ride and was whimpering.

All of a sudden, she screams, "NO GET OUT! STOP HURTING ME!" but much to Mr. Schue's surprise she doesn't wake up.

Thankfully they are at a red light and he is able to reach over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Rachel? Hey, you're having a bad dream. It's okay," he comfortingly says.

The girl's eyes flutter open and fresh tears fall again. She flinches when he feels his strong hand on her shoulder. He calmly puts his hand back on the steering wheel and doesn't say anything more because she had gone right back to sleep.

Within three minutes they have pulled in the parking lot of the apartment complex and Will shuts off the car. Rachel doesn't budge so he gets out as quietly as he can. He walks around to the passenger side of his car and gently opens the door.

"Rachel? Hey, we're here…" he calmly explains, not touching her this time.

Her eyes slowly open, and look around. She realizes how close he is to her and scoots as far into the car as she can.

"What's wrong, Rach?" Mr. Shue asks.

The woman doesn't respond, instead she buries her head in her hands and tries not to look at him.

"Come on, I don't want you out in the cold all afternoon okay?" Will encourages.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she screams, starting to cry.

"Hey, I'm not going to. It's okay. Just hang tight right here for a few minutes alright? I'm going to go get April. Everything's okay…" the curly haired man explains, trying to comfort her.

Rachel doesn't reply, but continues to cry as Will shuts the car door and walks towards his apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, FYI this is from April's POV. mArTiNaMcBrIdErOx91 wrote chapter one. We're going to keep switching from April's POV to 3rd person between writers so if it gets confusing, I'm sorry. We're gonna start doin' other POVs too!**

_April's POV_

I hate studying, I really do. It's just reading over some giant four pound text books for hours until you're brain hurts from overload, and how does that help anyone? I really don't get the point of History. It's already happened, people! Why do I need to learn this stuff?

After some time scanning over the giant History book I begin to get thirsty. I go off to find something to drink, when I come across Will's liqueur cabinet which somehow happens to be unlocked. I pull out some wine and take it back with me as I study the History book, taking a drink every few chapters. I hear the front door open and I look up to see Will, who seems worried about something.

"Hey, Will!" I say brightly, "Where's Rachel?"

"In the car, she won't come out with me," Will replies, "Could you try to get her?"

"Sure," I say, getting up and stabling a little on my way out.

I find Rachel in the car, and she's the saddest thing I've seen in a long time. She's cramming herself in the corner against the door, and she looks terrible. Her eyes look heavy and sleep deprived, her hair in a loose ponytail, wearing a old glee club t-shirt and black sweats. Nothing like that perky, but somewhat stuck up girl I saw a few years ago.

"Rachel? Sweetie?" I say softly. She looks up to see me. "Could you please come out of the car? We can't really help ya when you're scrunched in a corner."

After some coaxing she exits the car with me. I take her into the apartment when Will stops me.

"April, how could you start drinking again?" Will says, his voice coated with disappointment. "This is what messed you up last time!"

"Wha?" I ask.

"You were drinking when I was getting Rachel!" Will exclaims, holding up my wine bottle.

"I didn't drink THAT MUCH!" I exclaim, before muttering, "Not enough to get drunk anyways… Got Ra—where is she?"

I look around to see a door tightly closed. Rachel locked herself into the guest room. I look at Will with a worried look on my face.

~•~•~•~•~•~

"Honey, could ya please come out?" I ask gently from behind the door.

It had been a while after Rachel locked herself into the guest room and Will and I had been begging her to come back out.

"Rachel, I'm sorry for yelling at April, please just come out," Will begs.

The door begins to open and Rachel comes out.

"Okay," she says taking a seat on the couch. "I'll tell you why I came back to Lima."

"Why?" I ask, joining her on the couch.

"I… I was raped by one of my cast members," Rachel says, burying her head in her hands, she mumbles, "I left New York right after."

"Oh, sweetie," I put a hand on hers sympathetically.

"Rachel, that's a terrible thing to happen to you. Now I understand how you acted in the car. I'll try to help you however I can," Will says.

"Me too," I add, looking at Will. "You need all the help you can get.


	3. Chapter 3

_WILL'S POV_

I look at the woman sitting on the couch in my living room, her head buried in her hands, probably starting to cry again for the millionth time since last night or yesterday or whenever. April has her hand on Rachel's trying to comfort her, but sadly, I know it's probably not working.

I start thinking.

_Okay, she was raped. Some guy violated her and she didn't want him to, she might be hurt. We should probably get her to a doctor before it gets too late, and call the police, but that's going to be a problem because it happened in New York and we're in freaking Ohio._

"Rachel?" I say, hoping she'll listen to me.

April looks at me attentively, but Rachel doesn't move, just mumbles.

I sigh heavily before continuing, "Rach, we need to get you to a doctor. Just to make sure you're okay, and I know you probably still know all of the doctors in the city, but I just want to make sure everything's okay."

I notice April's blonde curls bob up and down with her understanding nod, but Rachel, is a completely different story. She starts furiously shaking her head no and I can hear the sobs begin to wrack her body. April gives me a concerned look before turning to Rachel.

"Sweetie, you're scared, and we get that. I don't want you to get sick. I'll stay with you, just do it for me okay?"

I am honestly surprised by April's compassion for Rachel. The last time they met wasn't pretty, because Rachel didn't want her to have the solo. However, I knew that Rachel was more than scared, she was terrified. Somebody's scared her enough to force her to drop everything and get a freaking bus, not a flight, a darn greyhound, to Ohio.

I watch April convince her to go to a doctor. Then I realize it's Saturday, and not very many offices are open. She probably doesn't want to go to the ER, which is about the only thing open at 2 in the afternoon.

"Rachel, there aren't many doctor's offices open today. We could go to the ER, but I'm sure you don't want that. I do know of a place in Dayton that's open, we could go there…" I calmly suggest.

April glances over at her and then says, "Will, there's a after hours clinic open. It's brand new, I think she'd be more comfortable there than riding back to Dayton."

I notice Rachel nod in agreement to April's suggestion and smile. I'm also surprised it's taken me this long to realize that Rachel didn't have any kind of luggage with her, just what seemed to be her purse.

"Rachel, did you bring anything besides your phone?" I ask, hoping I'm not sounding angry.

She lifts her head up, still clutching onto April's hands. "I… I only had time to get my purse. I thought he was gonna k…kill me. I had to get out, it was sitting on my counter and thankfully everything was in it that I'd need, my wallet, phone, keys…"

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when she says wallet. It's got money and her ID. She'll be okay, eventually.

I am brought back to reality by April's calm voice again, "Sweetie, I know that had on one of Will's coats when I got you, if you want, I'm sure there's something of mine that you could fit into…"

Rachel forces herself to try to smile at April, but it just won't come. She shakes her head no.

"I'm okay…"

I'm sure as much as she's afraid of me right now, she probably feels safe in my coat. I glance down at my watch, "Before they close, we need to get down there…"

April nods, but Rachel, closes her eyes. This has to be the worst off I've seen her. Yeah she freaked out when Jesse egged her, but that was just a childish prank. This is serious, someone's really hurt her to where I can't even touch her. A few seconds later April helps her up off the couch and she yawns.

"Come on Schue, let's get this over with…" I hear April say.

I get up, get my phone, keys, wallet, and coat from the counter. I also grab April's coat and purse that were also on the counter and give them to her. Rachel already has her stuff because April put it on the coffee table when she came in.

We walk to my car together, I don't think Rachel's let go of April yet. "Will, I'm gonna sit in the back with Rach…" April tells me, the worried look still hasn't left her face.

Rachel sits down, buckles herself in and curls up in the corner. April slowly lets go of her hand when she feels it go limp, letting her know that Rachel has fallen asleep. The ride to the clinic was okay, for me it seemed endless because I knew what was in store for Rachel. She slept the whole way, and I think even April began to nod off.

~•~•~•~•~

When I pull in the parking lot, April stirs in her light slumber and tries to hide a yawn.

"I'll get her…" she whispers to me.

I watch as April gently rubs Rachel's shoulder, "Rachel? We're here…"

Rachel's eyes pop open, they're terrified. I can see her in the rear view mirror. I'm smiling, trying to let her know things are going to be okay. April steps out of the car and so do I, she walks around to help Rachel. Like the last time, it takes some coaxing, but she gets out.

I head to the door and open it for them. Rachel's eyes dart around the room, making sure no one is there that she knows. Thankfully there's not, I tell April to go sit down with her and I'll sign her in.

Twenty minutes later a brunette nurse steps out, "Rachel Berry…"

She looks at me, "You guys stay here…"

I nod and April sighs, letting go of her hand. We both watch her walk up to the woman in pink scrubs and glance back at us.

Ten minutes into her appointment, the same brunette woman comes back into the waiting room. She starts walking towards us, and I'm beginning to worry. "Are you William Schuester?" she asks.

"Yes, Ma'am. I am…" I reply, still unsure of what she wants from me.

"Rachel's been crying, and has recently started screaming, not letting anyone touch her. She said she came with you, but didn't want you in the room. Is there someone else that could come back with me?" the woman explains.

My mind is racing, _What the hell happened to her?_

At the moment I'm completely forgetting about the blonde woman sitting across from me, April, who's listening to her iPod. I wave at her to get her attention. When she pulls the pink earphones out of her ears, "Yes Will?"

"Rachel's terrified. She won't let anyone touch her. And the nurse wants to know if you'd go in the room with her?"

"Poor thing. Of course I will," she replies, stands up, and walks into the exam area with the nurse. Leaving me by myself. There's a basketball game on that I really want to watch, but I just can't seem to focus.

My mind wanders, _What happened to Rachel? Was it Jesse?_ That thought gets shaken aside when I remember he's in a different play than her. Then my crazy mind wanders to Emma, should I call her and let her know about Rachel, she could definitely help. I think it'd be better to wait until Monday so she doesn't catch me on the phone. I stretch back in the chair, but as soon as I get comfortable I see a very familiar blonde and Rachel come out of the exam area. I stand up to meet them, but they approach me first.

"How'd it go?" I ask, somewhat afraid of the answer.

Rachel looks at April with one of the saddest looks I've ever seen.

Then April starts talking, "Physically she's fine. Just a few bruises. Emotionally, Will, we both know she's far from okay right now…"

I try to smile sympathetically at the girl who used to be so bubbly and in control all the time. Her world has come crashing down on her, and she's come back to me to fix it. We are definitely in for a long ride, and it's not going to be easy I can see that now.


	4. Chapter 4

**written by me, mArTiNaMcBrIdErOx91. I hope you enjoy this chapter, we're really sorry about the long wait.**

**DISCLAIMER: We own nothing. Except the plot of this story.

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_WILL'S POV_

I think Rachel cried the entire way back to my apartment. I'm not really sure though because, she was huddled in the corner, and her eyes were closed. We are, well, me and April are sitting in my living room. Rachel is in the shower, and has been for almost an hour.

I know for a fact that Rachel is not okay right now. And she probably shouldn't be in the shower for as long as she has been. I look at April, who now has a math book in one hand and a pencil in the other. "Hey, can you go check on Rachel for me?"

She nods, puts down the book and walks into the bathroom. While April is helping her, I hear some screaming, all Rachel's, crying, and April's soothing voice trying to calm Rachel down. I really don't want to know all that was said in there, or what happened. I'm not forcing either one of them to say anything, it's probably for the better.

The rest of the night was interesting. Filled with sleeplessness, more screaming, and lots of crying, all of it Rachel's. Sunday came and was pretty calm, except for I don't think Rachel got any sleep. April and I have both tried to reassure her that nothing bad was going to happen while she's with us, she's too traumatized to understand it right now.

Monday morning came way too soon. When the alarm, well Rachel's screams, woke me up I didn't want to go to work. Part of me didn't want to leave Rachel alone because she's so fragile, and the other part of me didn't want to get out of bed. I roll over and notice that April's spot is empty, she's already across the apartment in Rachel's room.

I get up and get in the shower. And thirty minutes later when I get out, April is laying back on my bed, staring at the ceiling. "She okay?" I ask.

"No, Will. She's not." the blonde woman yawns, not looking away from the ceiling.

"You can take the day and stay here with her if you want to." I tell her, knowing that Rachel is not ready to be alone.

"Math test. History quiz." she sighs, making her way into the bathroom.

"Okay. I'll let you call Rachel at lunch and check on her. And in Spanish if you need to." I tell her, but the shower is already running and I don't think she can hear me.

While April is getting ready, I quietly venture into the guest bedroom where Rachel is laying on the bed, completely covered up, crying and looks like she hasn't slept at all. "Rach?" I gently ask, not getting too close to her.

"Go away." She quietly says, completely terrified.

"Hey, it's just me, Will. I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise. I just wanted to make sure you're okay." I calmly explain to her.

She doesn't respond, just pulls the covers over her head. "April and I have to go to school, it's Monday. April is going to call you around lunch time, okay?"

"NOOOOOOOOO" is all I get in response from her and I hear April's running footsteps behind me.

"What on earth are you doing Will? She's scared out of her mind right now!" April asks me. She's still not ready, wearing jeans, a McKinley shirt and her hair is still in a towel.

"I was just checking on her. I told her that we were both going to school and you'd call her around lunch time to check on her…" I explain.

April just glares at me, and I leave to go make a cup of coffee. Twenty minutes later, April is in the kitchen, already looking exhausted, her hair in a loose pony tail, and hardly any make up on. "Let's go Will. We're gonna be late."

I nod, grab my briefcase, car keys and hear April tell Rachel goodbye, again.

* * *

_RACHEL'S POV_

This is crazy. I'm at my old teacher's apartment, in bed, scared out of my mind. He's just left me alone, so he can go to work. The only person who has actually taken care of me while I've been here, is gone too. So I don't know how I'm going to get through this.

I really need to call the crew back in NYC and let them know where I am, but I'm afraid that if I do, he's gonna come find me and kill me, like he said he wanted to. I'm glad April and Will don't know what happened, other than he raped me. Because I just can't relive it again, even though I do every time I close my eyes.

I'm exhausted. I just want to sleep, maybe if I could, I'd feel a lot better, but I see him every time I blink. And I'm really scared right now, I wish Will hadn't left me alone. I could call my daddies, but I'm kinda scared of men, everybody teacher wise that I know I could call is working, but Ms. P might be in her office, but then again, I don't want her to tell Will that we talked.

Maybe Santana. I could call her, I haven't talked to her in a long time. I don't really know what she's doing now, because the last time we talked she was at Ohio State.

I really wanted to call her a lot earlier than I did, I just couldn't make myself get out of bed. It's already eleven thirty by the time I try to find my cell phone. Once I get up out of bed, I realize how sore I really am. After sitting on that bus and attempting to sleep on the uncomfortable bus seat for a night really did a number to my already bruised up body.

After about five more minutes of searching for my phone, I finally find it on the coffee table in the living room, with about a million missed calls. I don't have a million really, just like a couple hundred, and lots of text messages. Some are from him, which scare me a lot. I probably should call Will or April and let one of them know, but I'm just too scared.

Most of them are from the rest of my cast, concerned about where I am, and I like the fact that they care, I just don't want them to tell him where I went. One is from Will, telling me not to worry and that I'm not going to get hurt while I'm at his place. The only one I reply to is April's, because she just might be the only one who can understand me.

So after texting her for a while, I finally get the nerve to dial Santana's number. After about 4 rings she picks up, "Rachel?"

"Hey, Santana, what's up?" I quietly ask.

"Not a whole lot, just getting ready to go to class. I'm going to graduate in May." She tells me.

Part of me tries to smile, I'm really happy for her because she worked really hard to get into Ohio State. "That's awesome San, let me know when graduation is…" I reply.

"Will do. What's up with you? Are you still in New York?" she asks me. I'm afraid to tell her where I am.

"No… I'm not…" I reply, barely above a whisper.

"Why?

"Yeah…" I mumble.

"Oh god, Rach, are you okay? Where are you?" She asks.

"I… I'm at Mr. Schue's apartment…" I manage to tell her, biting back tears.

"WHAT? Why? Is anyone there with you? Do you want me to come over?" she asks, obviously worried.

"No, you don't have to come. April is with him again, going to school. They're both there now. I'm by my self…." I tell her, trying to avoid talking about the rape.

"Oh, god. So I'm just curious, what happened that made you come back?" She calmly asks.

"I… I was…" "I was raped…" I tell her, crying again. But this time, April's not here to rub my back, tell me it was gonna be okay, and I kinda want her here right now. This is not easy.

The girl on the other end of the line is silent, all I hear is background noise. "Santana?" I timidly ask.

"Rachel, do you need me to come over? Seriously, I can skip class." she asks me.

"Go to class. I'm okay. They'll be here in a few hours anyway" I tell her, not wanting her to see me like this.

"Rach, you're not okay. You're crying, alone in Schue's apartment, and obviously scared…" she tells me.

"Whatever San, you're not coming over. Go to class, we can talk later…" I reply wanting to get off the phone.

"Okay. But really Rachel, you need to talk to someone, okay?" she says, and hangs up the phone.

I hear the clock gong, noon. Will's lunch period, I kinda want him to call me, but then again, I don't… I just wish this never happened to me.

I lean back on the couch, even more exhausted than before, but my phone beeps. It's him texting me again, scari Did something happen?" she asks me.

ng the crap out of me. I ignore it and start typing a new message to April, letting her know that he's been texting me.

Thirty seconds later, she texts back, saying that she's told Will and they're on their way home. I reply attempting to tell them it's nothing, and they should stay at school, and I'll be okay for a few more hours. She quickly replies back and tells me that they are already in the car pulling out of the parking lot.

I throw the phone on the floor, but it doesn't break. I'm crying, again, but they'll be here soon. I hate him, I hate myself, I hate everything right now… I don't understand why he had to do this to me, it hurt so much.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Sorry it's late! Writing issues and stuff but I won't go there. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Ain't ours! Sure, Ryan Murphy took one of my ideas, but he ain't doin' me any favors! He took the wrong one, silly man!

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_April's POV_

_I can't believe this,_ I think as Will drives us both back to the apartment. This guy's been sending her threats by text. _Now how do I keep her calm?_

~•~•~•~•~•~

I was just leaving my history test when my phone buzzed with a text from Rachel. It said that that ceep was texting her and it was freaking her out. I told her I would tell Will and when I did he told me to tell her that we were coming home.

~•~•~•~•~•~

As soon as we get back, I hop out of the car to find Rachel in tears. I run to her side and take her hand while rubbing her back, saying whatever calming words that come to mind. I look at Will, worried.

~•~•~•~•~•~

Later that night I finally calm Rachel down. Later during dinner she refuses to eat, but for the time I let it slide. I wouldn't want to eat when the creeper that's after me and I'm afraid wants to kill me is nonstop texting me. Afterward I sit and start to go over song ideas I was going to show Will when I hear a loud yell from Rachel's room. I jump up and run to see her screaming, begging someone to leave her alone and not to touch her.

"Rachel, sweetie, wake up!" I say, somewhat sharply as I gently grip her shoulders.

She eventually wakes up, more terrified than ever. I begin to calm her down again as Will walks in. _Nightmares,_ I mouth to him as I continue to rub Rachel's back.

Eventually, Rachel eventually falls asleep again and I quietly creep out.

* * *

_Two Weeks Later…_

_April's POV_

The next two weeks pass in a blur of nightmares, begging, panics, and sleep deprivation.

Every few hours Rachel wakes up and begins to yell from her room. Will tries to help me and let me sleep by calming her himself but it never works and I always end up calming her down in the end. I've started sleeping on the couch.

It might seem strange, how I'm being so nice to Rachel, but I have my reasons. People usually see me as a stupid, drunk, stuck up floozy, but I'm more than you see. I only act like that when I'm drunk and there's a lot more heart down there if you catch me sober. Rachel was raped, and you think I wouldn't care?

Rachel's stopped eating. That's the most recent thing I've noticed. Oh Will's been cooking for her, but she just won't eat. Despite all of my begging she just refuses to eat a bite of whatever we have. Actually, within the last two weeks with Will and I, Rachel's getting worse, not better. Every time she closes her eyes, she ends up screaming and yelling, it's terrible. I haven't slept at all since Rachel got here, and it's beginning to take it's toll.

I'm sure my grades are slipping. I failed six tests and haven't gotten any homework finished since I need to watch Rachel. I'm also semi-sure I'm starting to look like I fell off a hay wagon. I haven't slept, but also I haven't had too many showers lately and I definitely haven't had time to brush out my hair. Actually, without much sleep, I haven't remembered anything that doesn't have to do with taking care of Rachel.

It's almost like taking care of a baby… actually, no, it isn't. I just hope we can take care of this before it gets any worse. Rachel hasn't told me or Will what happened, but it sounds like she's afraid he'll kill her, so I'm sure it was pretty bad. We might have to get someone to help soon, I don't think I'll last without sleep much longer.

~•~•~•~•~•~

_WILL'S POV_

It's been two weeks since I picked Rachel up from Dayton. Her boss back in New York figured out that she'd run away and called, and seemed kinda angry when she told him what happened. She's not really getting any better, actually I think she's getting worse. A few days ago she stopped eating, actually it was the same day her boss called. Don't get me wrong, I've been cooking for her, but she just doesn't want to eat, or do anything really. I think this has begun to take a toll on April too; she seems more stressed, worried, and tired than she usually is.

Rachel is definately not coping well. She seems to have a nightmare every time she tries to sleep. It's the saddest thing I've ever seen in my life, It's comparable to having a newborn baby, well not really. She seems to wake up screaming every few hours and I've tried to comfort her a few times to let April sleep, but she just won't let me. She still hasn't really told me or April what happened, and I'm really worried. For some reason all I remember is that she said he wanted to kill her... so it must have been bad. I think it's time for her to get some real help. I'm going to talk to Emma in the morning, she'll know what to do.


	6. Chapter 6

**Written by me, mArTiNaMcBrIdErOx91. I hope you enjoy this chapter, we're really sorry about the long wait. April's POV written by Broadway Babe WA**

**DISCLAIMER: We own nothing. Except the plot of this story.

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_WILL'S POV_

Rachel is completely terrified. She won't even look at me, thank god April is here. I know I said I was going to wait until the morning to talk to Emma, but something needs to be done, now.

"Hey…" I say, as calm as I can possibly keep myself at the moment. April looks at me attentively, but Rachel closes her eyes. "I know this is probably not what you want to do, but we really need to call the police. They can arrest him and make him suffer for what he's done…"

Rachel shakes her head no, and screams that he'll find her and kill her.

April sighs, "Just wait, Will. She's not ready to deal with something like that yet…"

"Okay, April. But we need to do something, she's not going to get better this way. Remember how I told you I was gonna talk to Emma tomorrow?" I reply.

"Yeah, Will, that might be a good idea. She'll be able to help…" the blonde woman replies.

"I don't think waiting until tomorrow is going to be a good idea. I'm gonna call her now," I say, leaving the room to get my cell phone.

I sit down at the kitchen table, slowly dial Emma's office number, and look at it for a good five minutes before I press the call button. After two rings she picks up.

"Will?"

"Emma, I need a couple of huge favors…" I reply.

"Like? Is everything okay?" she asks.

"First, I need someone to cover my Glee period, and cancel practice. Do you remember Rachel from a couple years ago?" I slowly ask.

"Yeah, I'll cover Glee. What's up with Rachel?" she replies.

I'm relieved she's gonna help out with Glee, "Rachel's been at my apartment for two weeks. She's in pretty bad shape…" I explain.

"Oh God, bad shape? What happened?" Emma frantically asks.

"Em, she was raped by one of her cast members. She took a greyhound to Dayton, and called me to come get her. April's been taking care of her, and she's not getting better, and April's getting worn out," I explain, trying to keep calm.

Emma is silent for a minute, "That would explain the reason why April's grades have slipped. How bad is Rachel?"

"She can't sleep, won't eat, and the man keeps texting her saying he's gonna kill her. Every time she closes her eyes, she screams, I guess because she sees him. April is constantly by her side, making sure she doesn't hurt herself, and calms her down every time she starts screaming, gets a text, or freaks out."

"Okay. Well, there are a few things you could do. I can come over and relieve April for a while, so she can sleep, shower, and work on some stuff, I can recommend some people and treatment centers that could help Rachel, or, you could call your mom, Will. I know Rachel never had a mother, so that might be what she needs to help her heal…" she replies

"I'm not sending Rachel to a treatment center. It would be like kicking her out, which is basically what happened to her. Until I can get my mom here, could you come over? April is exhausted, she's struggling to stay awake, and calm for Rachel," I tell her.

"Of course. I'll be over right after Glee. I'll explain to Figgins what's going on, and I'll be there as soon as I can," she calmly says.

"Thank you so much. I'm going to call my mom and explain to her what's going on. I know it's almost time for Glee, so I'm going to let you go. They're working on country stuff right now, so let them work on some of their stuff for you," I say and hang up the phone.

I put the phone down on the table and run my hands through my hair that Sue just can't stop making fun of. I then pick up the phone and hit speed dial one, for my mom. I listen to it ring for three times.

"Hey Will!" she answers, happy that I've called.

"Hey mom…"

"Will? Is everything okay?" she asks, noticing the stress in my voice.

"Not really, I need you to come over…" I reply.

"Why?" she worriedly asks.

"This might sound crazy but, one of the kids that was in my Glee club three years ago has been with me for two weeks. She was raped in New York City, and came back because she thought I could help her. Well, since April's been with me, she's been a huge help. But Rachel's not getting better…" I explain.

"Oh God. What can I do?" she asks.

"Well, Rachel can't sleep, won't talk, won't eat, screams every time she closes her eyes, and the guy who hurt her texts her threatening to kill her. April's been really good about helping her get through the nightmares, panic attacks, and all kinds of stuff. But it's taking a toll on April. Her grades are slipping, she's losing sleep, and is just exhausted," I reply.

"I'll be over soon. I'm gonna tell dad what's up, and I'll be there. How long do you need me to stay?" she tells me.

"Well, I've got Emma coming over in about an hour. She's gonna cover Glee for me and then she'll be here. So you have some time to get your things ready and get out here. Hopefully it will only be a couple of days," I reply.

"Okay. So things will be okay until later this afternoon then?" she asks.

"They should be. With Emma here, it should start turning the situation around," I tell her.

"Alright Will. I'll see you around five or six."

"Thanks mom…" I reply, and she hangs up.

Back in my living room, Rachel is crying again. Or, has never stopped crying, I can't tell anymore.

"I talked to Emma, she'll be here in about an hour, and my mom will be here later this afternoon," I explain, mostly to April.

This is when I notice the dark circles under April's eyes, her messy hair, and how pale her face is. "April, do you want me to sit with her for a while?"

I notice Rachel's body tense up when I suggest this, "Rachel… can you look at me for just a minute?" I calmly ask, afraid of how she's going to respond.

It takes her a while, but eventually, she slowly lifts her head up and I smile at her. "Hey, Emma is going to come over for a few hours and let April have some time to catch up on her school stuff. Then my mom will be here tonight."

She gives me a worried look and then gives April the same look. "Don't worry, April's not going anywhere. She just needs some time to herself, only a few hours…" I reassure her.

She hangs her head, and sighs. "You hate me…" she whispers, to no one in particular.

"No, Rachel. We don't hate you, we're doing this so to help you get better. April can't help you very much if she can't take care of herself," I explain.

"Will, I'm going to go rinse off in the shower. Can you sit with her until I'm done?" April asks.

Rachel's body tenses up, again. This does not go unnoticed by April.

"Hey, Rach, listen. We really want to help you get better. We're going to start really small, I'm gonna be in the shower for no more than twenty minutes," she explains.

"DON'T LEAVE ME IN HERE WITH HIM!" she screams, curling up into a ball.

April sighs and looks at me, "I guess I can wait until Emma gets here…."

Rachel doesn't respond, just rocks back and forth on the couch. Thankfully there's a nock on the door, Emma's not supposed to be here for another forty five minutes, so it scares me a little bit. I cautiously open the door and it's her.

"I thought you were in Glee…"

"Figgins. He's got it under control. He decided that I needed to get over here quickly so he's covering the club," she calmly replies.

"Okay. Great, well, Rachel's in the living room…" I explain, only to be interrupted by a loud sob, or scream, I can't tell anymore.

"I'm guessing that's her…" she sadly says.

"Yeah. She's having a really hard time coping…" I begin, but Emma has already made her way into the living room and by time I get there, she's already sitting on the other side of Rachel.

"Hey, Rachel…" she quietly says.

Rachel is quiet for a few minutes before responding, "Ms. P?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I know you're really scared, but April really needs some time to herself so she can relax and do some of her school work…" she slowly says.

Rachel just looks at her, unsure of what to say. Emma notices the dark circles under Rachel's eyes, and how thin she's gotten, I can tell because of the concerned look she's giving me.

"Rachel, I really want you to try to stop crying okay? It will make it easier for you to talk and breathe," she gently says.

"I… don't… think… I… can…" she sobs.

Emma puts her hand on Rachel's back and starts rubbing it, "Shhh. Rachel, breathe with me okay… big breath in through your nose… and let it out slowly through your mouth…"

Rachel's first breath is shaky, because she's still crying, but after a few more, she's a lot calmer than she was before Emma got here.

"Wow, Em.." I smile.

April has leaned back on the couch, and is sound asleep.

I quietly motion in her direction and Emma sighs, "One at a time Will…"

"Great job Rachel. Honey, when was the last time you had something to eat?" she asks.

"Uhmmm…" she mumbles. Emma looks at me.

"We've tried everything…" I add in my defense.

"You've got to be starving, honey. Let's get you a little something…" Emma calmly says.

Rachel shakes her head. "At least drink some water, or juice," I hear, focusing on Emma's concerned eyes, trying to figure out what she's thinking.

"I have some grape juice… do you want me to get you some?" I ask.

"Sure Will, that'd be great," Emma replies, mouthing that I should bring her a glass as well.

I walk into the kitchen, with a million and one thoughts running through my mind. It jumps from the things Emma has in mind, how to take care of April, now that she's worn herself out. What my mom's initial reaction to the situation is going to be, and what Figgins and Sue are going to have to say. Back in the living room I hear more soothing words come out of Emma's mouth, but I'm not focusing on them at the moment, so I'm not really sure what she's said.

I return to the living room and find April curled up in the corner of the couch sleeping, Emma trying to get Rachel to relax, which is surprisingly working, slowly but surely. I calmly sit the glasses down on the coffee table by them and try to figure something out for April. She's absolutely exhausted, and needs somebody to take care of her for a day or two.

"I'm gonna take care of April. It looks like you've got everything with Rach under control…" I say.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey! It's Lin again! (Broadway Babe WA) So here's the next chapter! Sorry about the suddenly slow updates, but we've been having issues cramming writing time on both our ends so yep like I have homework every day and stuff like that. Anyway enjoy and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, Ryan Murphy took my ideas, but he ain't doin' me any favors. He took the wrong one! If it were up to us April would have sang A Little Bit Stronger! (Psst! Ryan, if you're readin' this… PLEASE!)

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_April's POV  
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"Are you sure she'll be okay?" I ask, still worried about Rachel.

Soon after Emma arrived I leaned back on the couch and apparently fallen asleep. Will had carried me to the bed ad let me sleep there until I woke up. Now I'm just worried about Rachel and if she'll have another panic attack or something.

"She'll be fine. Emma's with her," Will says reassuringly.

"Will," I say, "let me remind you of how much she screamed when I said I was leaving for twenty minutes to take a shower."

"She won't react like that, April. Actually I think what Emma's doing is working pretty well. She's calmed down a bit with her."

"All right…" I sigh, out of other reasons.

From what I remember, if I even heard right, my brain doesn't seem to want to function properly lately, Will's mom was coming later today to help with everything between Rachel and my lack of sleep so I can sleep and fix up my apparently falling grades and Emma is helping now.

"You sure?" I ask again.

"Just take care of yourself. You need to."

I let out another sigh, not sure how well this will end, probably with more sleep deprivation in my case, and start into the bathroom. It's the first time I've had a chance to shower in a bit so I'm sure I look awful. I step into the bathroom in front of a sink, and I see that I'm right.

My usually perfectly curled golden hair is in a ratty tangled mess, my emerald eyes have large circles under them from lack of sleep, and I'm pale as a sheet.

Feeling half asleep I climb into the shower and turn on the water. I end up jolted awake by the cold water I had forgotten to wait for to heat, but I stay in the shower anyways as the water gradually warms up and I find it refreshing.

I start to comb through my hair with my hands and suddenly realize how very messy and tangled it is. I eventually am able to force enough conditioner into my mop of curls to get out the worst of the tangles and decide to brush them out later.

Still feeling a bit clouded in my brain I probably should just sleep. I crawl up into Will's bed onto my side and am almost amazed at the thought that I might be able to get to sleep when I remember that I'm beginning to fail school. This time I'm actually serious about graduating so I figure on second thought I should maybe go study a little first. It still feels useless to me since it's still one just cramming a bunch of facts into ones brain until ones throbs and won't remember any of it the next day.

I sigh and pick up a history book and attempt to read it but the words seem to be almost swimming on the page as my eyes skim over the words. Eventually my thoughts just begin to run together and I can't think straight enough anymore to read the book. Feeling too tired and lazy to move the text book, I slide it to the foot of the bed and curl up in bed as I drift back to sleep.

A while later a loud scream jolts me awake again. Groggily, I climb/fall out of the bed and make my way into the living room. From what my foggy brain is taking in, it looks like Rachel got a text from him (she's holding her phone) then the door rang which scared Rachel into thinking it was him. It's Will's mom.

_Thank God,_ I think as I see her coming through the door.

"April go back to sleep. You need it," Mrs. Schue says, looking me up and down. "I'll have Will wake you up when dinner is done."

I look at Will's mom and she already figured out what I'm thinking. _What about Rachel?_

"It'll be all right, just get some rest."

I nod and hazily make my way back to Will's bed, my thoughts moving at about less than a mile per hour. The next time I'm woken up, Will is gently shaking my shoulder.

"April, dinner," Will says softly as my brain slowly begins to function again.

"Oh…" I reply sleepily, not wanting to leave the warm sheets of Will's bed.

After a bit more coaxing Will is able to get me to get up so I can go eat. I sleepily walk into Will's dining room. As I sit I suddenly I realize how very hungry I actually am. I haven't had too much time to eat between everything. I scarf down my meal when I notice Rachel also at the table. She's still refusing to eat. Though still worried about Rachel not eating I hope that Will's mom will be able to help with that as I have a little more food myself.


	8. Chapter 8

**Next chapter! Yay! And it's even got Mrs. Schue's POV! Well anyways enjoy!  
DISCLAIMER: No we don't own it. Otherwise April probably would have a bit more backstory and stuff. Anyways we think Will/April is adorable!**

_MRS. SCHUESTER'S POV_

Dinner was quite interesting. I made lasagna; Will, Emma, and April ate most of theirs—well April ate all of it, and then half of another piece. She must've been starving, she's worn herself out, when I came to the door she basically sleepwalked into the living room. I'm just as worried about her as I am Rachel.

Rachel just picked at her food. I don't think she ate a bite. Yeah, she drank, but that was about it. She's back on the couch, staring into space. Emma immediately started cleaning up the kitchen after we were done eating. I tried to stop her and offered to do it, but Will explained to me that she was afraid of germs, so I let her clean. One less thing for me to worry about, I guess.

April is nodding off at the table, poor thing. "April, sweetie, how much sleep have you gotten since Rachel's been here?" I calmly ask.

She yawns, "I have no idea anymore, Mrs. Schue. I don't even remember the last time I ate something that wasn't microwaveable or take out…"

"If you want me to make you something else, just let me know…" I offer. Will looks at me, "You called me to come over so I could take care of her and Rachel, that's what I'm doing…"

He nods, "Okay mom. I'm gonna go talk to Emma…"

"Thanks Mrs. Schue…" April smiles, and yawns again.

"Call me Debbie honey. Mrs. Schue makes me feel old…" I smile. She giggles, and keeps yawning. "Looks like somebody needs some more shut eye…"

All she does is nod in agreement and walks back into Will's room. I make my way into the kitchen where I hear laughter. Emma is vigorously scrubbing at a plate while Will is laughing at the counter.

"Hey mom…"

"Hey. How much sleep has April really gotten? She couldn't keep her eyes open during dinner…" I ask.

"There were some nights that she couldn't get any. And sometimes it would be two or three in a row. I let her sleep in Spanish all the time…" Will answers.

I sigh, she's gonna need to sleep for days, but she also needs to eat and study. I won't bother her anymore tonight, but she's got school tomorrow. Emma's finally finished cleaning and we make our way back into the living room to focus on Rachel. She's laying on her side, crying. My first concern is her eating, she's got to be starving, I can tell by the way her arms are wrapped around her chest.

Emma sits down in the chair beside the couch, Will on the floor, and I sit on the chair across from Emma.

"Rachel, how're you feeling?" I ask. She just groans. I know she probably doesn't want to talk about it right now, but she needs to, so I can help her. "I know you've got to be hungry. Your stomach won't hurt as much, and you'll feel better if you eat something."

She closes her eyes and a tear falls, but she also nods. I ask Will to bring me a few crackers and he does. I help Rachel sit up and I sit down next to her, grabbing the plate from the coffee table. Rachel looks down at it and smiles, I know she wants to eat. Something's just keeping her from actually doing it, like she's scared.

"Go ahead, you can eat them. I had Will get them so you could." I calmly say to her.

She slowly picks up one of the crackers and literally nibbles on it. We're all smiling because she's finally attempting to eat something again, especially Will. I know he's relieved because he sounded really worried when he told me she wasn't eating. I watch her as she slowly eats the rest of the cracker, and leans back on the couch.

I decide that one cracker is okay to start with and I'm not going to pressure her into eating a whole lot right now. I just know that she has a tiny bit of something in her system.

"Emma, if you need to go home, I've got everything pretty much under control." I offer.

Rachel shakes her head no. It does make sense though, April's been with her for two weeks, and she's sound asleep, and Emma's been here for the past few hours, and from what I've heard, she's taken some baby steps with Rachel. Her recovery is definitely going to be nothing but tiny baby steps. But we've made a few, and that's a good thing.

"Rachel, you're going to be okay with Mrs. Schue. If I didn't think you would be, I wouldn't agree to leaving. I'll call later tonight and see how things are going. But I really do need to get home though…" Emma calmly says.

Rachel sighs and nods. Will stands up and walks Emma to the door. I try to get Rachel to tell me a little bit about what happened. The only thing she's told me so far is that she's absolutely terrified. I had to reassure her that everything would be okay if she talked to me, because I could help her get better, I just needed to know what was wrong first.

Will mouths to me that he's going to go check on April, and grade some Spanish quizzes. I let him have the time to do whatever it was that he needed.

**~•~•~•~•~•~**

_WILL'S POV_

**8 PM**

Today has definitely been crazy. Rachel told April that he's been threatening to kill her, we rushed home and April sat with Rachel all afternoon. Emma basically ran over here too, and has been a huge help. My kitchen is the cleanest it's been in a long time. Now my mom is here, sitting with Rachel, April's sound asleep in bed, but she desperately needs it. I really want to let her stay home from school tomorrow to catch up on her sleep, and school work, but she probably won't want to.

I slowly walk into my bedroom and find her laying flat on her back in the middle of the bed with the covers all twisted around her body. She's completely out of it, and she actually looks like she's sleeping peacefully. I gently straighten the sheets around her and cover her back up. She sighs and rolls onto her side, grabbing hold of the blanket, and her hair falls in her face when she moves her head. I slowly brush the pieces back off of her face behind her ear, she didn't even flinch. She will definitely be out until morning

It's now ten and mom's trying to get Rachel to get cleaned up and in bed. Rachel's afraid to sleep because she thinks she's going to see him when she closes her eyes. Rachel keeps yawning, so we both know she's tired, but she's reluctant.

"Rachel, listen. If you want me to sit right outside the bathroom door while you take your shower, I will. No one is going to hurt you…" I hear my mom saying in the living room.

I get up and make my way into the living room to figure out what's going on. Once I get there, Rachel's crying and my mom is sitting next to her, holding her hand. "What happened?"

"She's scared to be by herself Will." my mom tells me.

"Rachel, I know you're really scared. But no one else is gonna come in or leave this house tonight. I just want you to let my mom help you." I calmly tell her.

She starts sobbing and I'm silently praying that April won't wake up. My mom notices the worried look on my face and immediately remembers April. "Shhh… shhh… you're going to get better, I'm gonna help you." I hear her say.

Rachel leans into my mom's shoulder and continues to cry. "It… it hurt… so bad…"

I sigh and glance into my bedroom, surprisingly, she's still sound asleep.

"It's okay now baby, no one's going to hurt you…" my mom calmly says, gently rocking Rachel.

My mom keeps rocking her for what seems like forever until her sobs turn into silent tears and finally her breathing seems to have evened out. She's sleeping, thank god. But who knows how long this will last. I smile at my mom and whisper, "Thanks, tonight might have been another sleepless night for the both of them…"

"It's not a problem honey. I knew you really needed somebody when you called this afternoon, sounds like you could use a little more sleep yourself…" she replies.  
I glance down at my watch and notice that it's almost 11:30, yeah I do need sleep. "Goodnight mom…" I whisper. She smiles and says the same thing back to me.

I make my way into my bedroom and April is in the middle of the bed, again. I quietly walk into the bathroom and change. When I finally get into bed myself, April sighs and rolls over closer to me. I wrap my arm around her and close my eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay next part! Yay fast update. Unfortunately thats because we had to split this one in half.  
DISCLAIMER: Not a thing. Sadly. Oh well…

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**WILL'S APARTMENT  
6:15 AM**

**_WILL'S POV_**

I'm awakened by the sound of Reba McEntire's voice coming from April's alarm clock.

_I wanna be somebody's Chelsea,  
Somebody's world,  
Somebody's day and night,  
One and only girl…_

Then April slams the snooze button. I quietly get up and get in the shower. Fifteen minutes later I hear the next part of the song.

_A part of a love story,  
That never has an end,  
You know that's what every woman wants to be,  
Somebody's Chelsea…_

April turns the alarm off, and I get out of the shower and get dressed. When I walk back into the room, she's sitting on the side of the bed yawning.

"Hey…" I smile.

She smiles back at me and stretches her arms out in front of her, "How's Rachel?"

"I guess you could say better, she's with my mom. The last I saw, she'd fallen asleep in my mom's arms. My mom tried to get her to talk about it, but all she said was that she's really scared and that it really hurt when he did it…"

"Mmk. I'm exhausted, Will, but there's this lovely thing called an English quiz…" she says.

"It's okay… if you want to stay here with my mom and Rachel, you can. I'll just tell your English teacher you're sick…" I explain.

"No Will. I'm gonna go to school…" she protests, making her way towards the closet, pulls out a pair of jeans and a blue baseball shirt.

I take this as an opportunity to go check on my mom and Rachel. They've been pretty quiet so far this morning. I walk into the living room, but my mom must've gotten Rachel to bed at some point. I continue walking and find them both in the guest bedroom, Rachel's tossing and turning in bed, while my mom is sleeping in a very uncomfortable position in the chair. I decide to wake my mom, because I know her neck will be killing her when she wakes up.

I gently put my hand on her shoulder, "Hey, mom…"

She opens her eyes and stretches her neck. "Hey, is April gonna go to school with you today?"

"She says she has an English quiz, which I know she's not ready for. I told her she could stay home, but she told me she didn't want to…" I answer.

"Okay. Do you want something to eat?" she asks.

"I'll be fine, but April might…" I reply.

She stands up, glances at Rachel and we start walking into the kitchen. We stop when we see April sitting on the couch with a book in her lap.

Mom sits down next to her, "April, it'll be okay if you miss one day. Your teacher will let you make up the quiz…"

"I'm already up and dressed. There's no point and not going anywhere…" she sighs. Her hair looks the best It's looked in the past two weeks, even though it's in a side ponytail, all the pieces are in place and the curls are not tangled.

"Okay… do you want something to eat?" mom asks.

"Yeah…" April smiles back.

**~•~•~•~•~•~**

_MRS. SCHUESTER'S POV_

April's completely exhausted, but yet she still wants to go to school today. Will and I have both tried to get her to stay home. She's struggling to cram for a quiz, which is not going to do her any good. I'm about to ask her what she wants to eat when we're startled by a scream coming from Rachel's room.

April jumps up to go help Rachel, "Hey, I've got it under control. Just relax, she'll be okay…"

I rush into the bedroom to find Rachel sitting up in bed, crying. "Hey… Rachel, it's okay, shhh…" I slowly sit on the side of the bed next to her.

"I… I'm scared…" she whimpers.

I wrap my arm around her shoulder and she leans into me, still crying. "Honey, listen. There's nothing you need to be scared of, you're almost halfway across the country from him right now. I really want you to talk to me about what happened, you'll feel better if you do…"

Will slowly comes in the room, "Hey, April and I are leaving, I'll call around lunch time and see how things are going." he smiles at me and then at Rachel, who buries her head in my shoulder. It's going to be a long day. I nod and he leaves.

"Shhh, shhh, shhh, Rachel. You're okay, no one's going to hurt you. Just relax, shhh…" I slowly say to her. Her body is so tense right now, she's got to be uncomfortable. I start rubbing her back, and eventually she stops crying. She's sleeping again ten minutes later, hopefully she'll stay this way for a few hours, she really needs it.


	10. Chapter 10

MCKINLEY HIGH  
APRIL'S ENGLISH CLASS  
APRIL'S POV

I can't hold my concentration. I'm sitting in my English class taking that test I told Will I can't miss, but it was completely pointless for me to even bother. I'm not going to tell Will, of course, but he was right. I can't process the questions and answers to these questions between my worrying, excess stress, hunger, and lack of sleep.

I've actually been able to go and sleep and stuff thanks to Debbie but I'm still so tired from not sleeping and I can't help but worry about Rachel. She freaked out so much when I told her I'd go for twenty minutes yesterday before Will's mom got there. I'm so glad that Debbie and Emma decided to pitch in and help with Rachel.

Other than Will asking and it being Rachel, I'm not so sure why Emma was so willing to help. I mean, it was one of Will's old glee students and stuff, but she could have ended up helping Rach without helping me too. I'm already aware that she didn't/doesn't really like me but I'm not completely sure where I stand with her anymore. Apparently, Sue planted some mics in Will's apartment and they "caught" us in his bed. So Sue ran off and told everyone that we "slept together". In the figurative sense, not the literal. But that was a few years ago so I'm not sure.

Technically you could say that that Sue's statement is true, but we did it literally—we just slept in the same bed. Nothing else, whatsoever, happened in that bed. Well, actually, according to Will, I spent the night asleep. Will was getting kicked by me. (Oops… well it's not my fault I suffer night terrors!) Now I've gotten over the nightmares for the most part, but they still come back sometimes. I think sharing the bed with Will for longer than one night helped me a bit though. (Shut up, Sue.)

I'm suddenly pulled back down to earth again when someone starts tapping my shoulder. It turns out that while I was lost in my thoughts, the English test was supposed to be turned in. I sigh and hand it in, already knowing I failed yet another test. My grades probably aren't goin' anywhere until I know for sure Rachel is okay again. 

~•~•~•~•~•~

Finally, I arrive in Spanish class. The whole day so far has been dragging so slowly I could almost swear someone is making time go slower just to torture me. If they are, they're succeeding.

"Will?" I say, going up to him.

"Yeah, April?" Will turns around and looks at me, putting down some Spanish papers he was grading.

"Could I go call Rachel?" I ask, "I've been wanting to check on her all day so much that I haven't been able to concentrate on my school work."

"Go ahead," Will says, "I had a feeling you'd probably ask that. You already know that I'm going to let you though. I've been doing that since Rachel got here." 

~•~•~•~•~•~

WILL SCHUESTER'S APARTMENT  
Debbie Schuester's POV

Rachel has gotten some sleep, thank god. She's a little bit calmer now that she's slept peacefully, or at least I think she did. She's sitting on the couch watching some random Barbra Streisand movie. Her phone is sitting on the table when I notice it light up. Her body tenses when it starts singing a song that I think is from Wicked.

She looks at it, terrified, not wanting to answer it. I calmly move towards it, "Honey, it's only April. I'm gonna answer it and then let you talk to her…"

She just nods, and leans back on the couch. "April…" I say.

"Debbie? Where's Rachel?" the tiny blonde asks.

"Right here, with me. She's watching a movie…" I explain.

"Is she okay?" April asks.

"She just got scared when her phone rang, but she's been pretty calm today…" I tell her.

"That's good. Can I talk to her?" the woman asks.

"Sure, hang on…" I smile.

"Rachel, do you think you could pause your movie and talk to April for a few minutes?" I ask.

She sighs and punches a button on the remote, causing Barbra to stop mid sentence and stare at me from the screen. I hand her the phone and she slowly puts it on her ear.

"Hello…" she shyly says.

I quietly get up because I hear the dryer beeping in the other room. Will and April have been so busy taking care of her that their laundry has been piling up, I've just washed about ten pairs of Will's jeans and probably the same amount of April's tiny McKinley shirts. I start to fold April's shirts when I hear crying from the living room.

Rachel's phone is back on the coffee table, the movie is still paused and she's laying on her stomach with her face buried into a pillow, "Honey, what's wrong?"

"A… April wants to stay for Glee practice this afternoon, and so does Will…" she whimpers.

"Honey, listen, I'm here. You're just as safe with me here as you are with them. April needs to get her school work together, she really wants to graduate. And Will needs to be there for the Glee club, I'm sure you know what it's like…" I calmly say.

She just sobs into the pillow, "Maybe, when you get better, Will might let you help out at Glee for a while…"

She turns her head so I can see her pale face. I sigh, hopefully she'll eat some more at dinner tonight. She hardly ate anything when I tried to make her lunch. "I'm sure there's no one there as talented as me now…" she says to me.

"I don't know. But you need to get better first before you can go help out…" I tell her.

I help her sit up, "Let's start with eating something. That's one thing that will help a lot…"

She sighs and hangs her head, "I'm not hungry…"

"You've got to be… I hear your stomach growling all the time…" I reply, "You just think nothing sounds good, so you don't want to eat. I think you should start with something really light, like some crackers or soup…"

"Crackers…" she replies, this is definitely a good start.

"You can turn your movie back on if you want to. I'm just going to finish doing some laundry for Will and April." I tell her.

She nods and follows me into the kitchen and I give her a bowl full of goldfish, and some grape juice. She slowly walks back into the living room and sits back down on the couch and in a few seconds, Barbra is singing again. I quietly walk back into the laundry room to finish folding the clothes. I get most of April's stuff folded and then realize there are about ten pairs of her jeans in the basket in the corner. So I throw them in the washer, and leave to go check on Rachel.

The goldfish bowl is practically empty, except for maybe four or five still in there. She's sipping on the grape juice and humming along to the movie. My phone buzzes and she tenses up. "Sweetie, it's mine… you're okay…"

It's Will texting me. "how is she?"

"better. She ate a few goldfish and she's watching some old Barbra Streisand movie." I reply.

"that's good. Has he texted or called her today?" Will asks.

"once. This morning, and she freaked out. But I got her to calm down fairly easily and that's when I suggested she watch a movie…" I explain.

"that's good. I'm gonna stay for Glee, and then April and I will be home." he tells me.

"okay. I've done some of yours and April's laundry…"

"thanks mom… I've got to get back to class…" he replies.

I put my phone back in my pocket and she notices. Her muscles relax and I notice that the washer has stopped making noise, so I go to hang April's jeans up to dry. 

FOUR HOURS LATER.  
5PM

Will and April walk through the door of the apartment and Rachel slowly turns around on the couch to look at them. She smiles at April, who looks exhausted.

"Hey, Rach…" she smiles.

"Hi…" the woman mumbles.

"How was your day?" April asks, trying to get Rachel to talk. Which is a really good thing, because she hasn't said much and we both know it's bad for her to keep everything bottled inside.

Rachel doesn't reply, but just sighs. April looks at me and yawns, Will walks into the laundry room and comes back with all of his clean clothes, "Thanks mom…"

"No problem… April, most of yours are done too…" I tell her.

"Thanks Debbie…" she yawns again. Poor thing, she probably needs to sleep for a good eight hours, or more, before she's fully caught up again.

"April, honey, go take a nap. You're exhausted…" I say to her.

"Ugh, homework…" she sighs.

"I'll give you two hours. I'll wake you up in time for dinner and then you can work on it after we eat…" I suggest.

"Fine…" she replies and makes her way into Will's bedroom.

Will walks out a few minutes later, "Mom, she's sound asleep already…"

"I knew she was tired. How did she do at school today?" I ask.

"I know she couldn't concentrate… but she insisted on going anyways…" he tells me.

"I'm making her stay here tomorrow. She really needs the sleep, and we both know she won't do good on whatever test or quiz she might have. So you might want to talk to her teachers and figure out what she needs to make up and work on…" I tell him.

"Okay… I'll talk to her after dinner too… and we can help her get her school stuff back on track…" he tells me.

"Sounds like a plan… I'm gonna check on Rachel, and finish up April's laundry…" I tell him, and walk into the living room.


	11. Chapter 11

**OMG IT'S CHAPTER ELEVEN! THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS, GUYS! YOU ROCK! Just please send more? ^.^ Thanks!**

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_MRS. SCHUESTER'S POV_

Rachel has laid down on the couch and fallen asleep, good. She desperately needs it, I was getting very worried about her. I then make my way into the laundry room and start to iron a few pairs of April's jeans, she's so tiny, size zero, double zero, another zero, even a kids 16. I'm not as worried about her eating as I am Rachel's, she scarfed down that lasagna last night. I finally finish her clothes and bring them into Will's room. She's wrapped up in the blankets sound asleep, the sheets are all twisted. But I'm not going to bother her, so I turn the light out and let her sleep.

Two hours later both women are still sleeping. Will and I had a nice conversation about what's been going on, so I could get a better idea. He's said April is serious about graduating this time, and I'm proud of her. That's going to help her, a lot. I decide to start making dinner, tonight it's chicken and rice. I'm about halfway through cooking when I notice a tiny blonde woman come into the kitchen, "Hey April…"

"Hey…" she yawns back.

"Did you sleep good?" I ask.

"Yeah. What's for dinner?" she replies, sitting on a bar stool by the counter.

"Chicken and rice, I'm thinking about making green beans too…" I tell her.

"Okay. I'm starving," she tells me.

"You need to keep up with your eating too, I want you to stay healthy. Oh, and Will and I thought it would be best if you stayed home tomorrow…" I reply.

"Why? I'm fine…"

"Honey, you're exhausted, you just told me you're starving, and you're so far behind on your school work…" I explain.

She yawns, "I'll be even more behind if I don't go…"

"Will is going to take care of it. Don't worry. You need to relax…" I tell her, taking the chicken out of the skillet.

"Whatever…" she replies, putting her head down on the counter.

Poor thing, she's completely worn herself out. But I do notice that she's not so super skinny, because there's a good amount of muscle on her, compared to Rachel, she looks healthier. Rachel is very skinny, almost bony, and has hardly eaten a thing.

Will comes into the kitchen and sees April, then looks at me. I motion for him to come closer to me and then I whisper, "Bring her back into the bedroom, she desperately needs the sleep…"

He nods and looks at her. I watch him gently rub her back, "April…"

"Mmm…" she sighs.

"Come on, dinner's not ready quite yet. You need to lay down some more." he calmly tells her.

"Uhhh. Will, I don't wanna move…" she whimpers.

He glances at me and I sigh, she's just exhausted. I'm really thinking about letting her eat in bed tonight. She just needs to relax.

"Shhh. I'll carry you. It's okay…" he says and the next thing I know, he's got a tiny sleeping blonde in his arms, and her arms are lightly draped around his neck. Her head is buried in his chest and she actually looks peaceful.

**WILL'S POV**

She was definitely not ready to get out of bed yet, I'm not sure why she did either. She's so out of it, I sit down on my bed with her still in my arms and gently move her arms to her sides and lay her down on the bed.

"W…." I hear.

"Shhh. Just sleep. I'll come get you when it's time for dinner okay?" I tell her.

She rolls over and is completely out of it. I sigh and make my way back into the kitchen. "Will, I'm worried about her…" mom says when she sees me.

"Let me guess, her sleeping… or not sleeping rather…" I ask.

"Of course." mom replies.

"I tried really hard to get her to sleep and let me stay up with Rachel, but she, and Rachel protested. It started taking a toll on her about a week ago. She just seems so weak…" I say.

"Okay. I'm thinking about letting her eat in bed tonight, she definitely doesn't have the energy to sit up for very long. But I'm worried if Rachel will eat at all…"

"Me too. And if you wanna let April eat in bed, fine. Speaking of Rachel, is she still sleeping…" I ask.

"I think so. Will you go check on her for me?"

"okay…" I smile and make my way into the living room. I slowly make my way to the front of the couch and sure enough the brunette woman is laying on her side, eyes closed, sleeping. Thank god, she's probably lost as much, or more sleep than April and they both desperately need it.

I quietly go back into the kitchen, "she's still sleeping. How long has she been that way?"

"almost three hours…" mom replies.

"wow. What did you do?" I ask.

"nothing really, after you texted me, I did the rest of the laundry and when I finished, she was sleeping. I decided to let her stay that way." mom says.

"Okay. Whatever you're doing is working, they're both sleeping at the same time. Which hasn't happened yet." I smile.

"It's called being a mom Will. I know how to do stuff like that…" she tells me.

"Whatever…" I reply, but we're both startled by a light whimper coming from the living room.

"Will you finish the rice, I'm gonna check on her." mom quickly says as she rushes into the living room.

**DEBBIE SCHUESTER'S POV**

I'm so glad she finally got some sleep. I did tell her that everything was going to be okay if she closed her eyes for a few hours and sure enough, she was sound asleep within minutes. One thing I'm not so worried about anymore. "Rachel…"

"Don't hurt me…" she quietly says.

"Honey, it's Debbie. I'm not going to hurt you, you're okay." I reassure her.

"Oh…" the woman timidly replies and looks at me.

"How're you feeling?" I ask.

"Okay… my stomach kinda hurts…" she replies.

"I really want you to eat something tonight, okay. It will help your stomach, I promise." I tell her.

"Fine." she replies.

Will comes in the room, "Okay, I finished cooking everything else, do you want me to go get April?"

"I'll get her. Go fix your plate…" I tell him and he goes back into the kitchen.

"Yes mom…" he replies and I giggle.

"Okay Rach, let's get you a bite to eat…" I encourage her.

"Whatever…" she says and follows me into the kitchen. Will is just about finished fixing his plate when we make our way in there, he smiles at her, but she doesn't smile back, just looks at him. I grab a plate and put a small piece of chicken, a few green beans and a little bit of rice on her plate, and I notice she sits down next to Will.

"Hey, I'm going to go get April, I'll be right back…" I tell them. Rachel looks at me, terrified.

"It's okay. He's not going to hurt you…" I reassure her.

She just nods and picks up her fork, hopefully she'll eat a few bites. I walk into Will's room and notice a tiny figure under the massive amount of blankets that are on the bed, curled up and breathing steadily. I really don't want to wake her up, but she needs to eat.

"April, honey…" I calmly say, putting my hand on her shoulder.

She stirs in her sleep, but doesn't wake up. "April, dinner's ready…" I say to her.

This time she wakes up and rolls over to face me, "Do I really have to get up?"

"I was thinking about letting you eat in here…" I reply.

"Really?" she yawns.

"Yeah. You need to relax, I'm going to go get your plate and bring it to you. Just stay here." I tell her.

"Kay…" she yawns as I get up and make my way back to the kitchen.

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**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	12. Chapter 12

**MWAHAHAHAH! I FINALLY GOT ON MY LAZY BUM AND UPDATED! READ! Oh and I had to repost because I forgot the first half lol. I'm dumb…**

**DISCLAIMER: Ryan Murphy, you have full rights to take our ideas because glee is yours and we disclaim, but I must say… ****  
****CHENO STRIP ES MUY NO BUENO! ES MUY, MUY MAL! YO NO GUSTO!****  
****Translation: CHENO STRIP VERY NOT GOOD! VERY, VERY BAD! I NO LIKE!**

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**_APRIL'S POV_

_I sleep in for I don't even know how long. By the time I'm actually awake, it's at least ten or eleven. That's about the most sleep I've gotten in at least two weeks, and I feel really renewed and fresh. _

Then it occurs to me that I really should be be getting to school.

I practically leap out of bed and run into the bathroom. Figuring I won't have time to take a shower, I splash some water onto my face and madly brush through my thick hair with a brush as it snags every so often on my curls when I hear Debbie at the door.

"April, what are you doing?" Debbie asks, obviously hearing me moving around in the bathroom.

"I-ow-need to get to school!" I yell as my brush hits another tangle. Dang it!

"What are you talking about? You're staying home remember?"

_Oops… __  
_  
"Just calm down, April, you'll be fine. Will's bringing your homework later," Debbie reminds me.

See, this is exactly what happens when I'm either asleep or drunk and decide to do something.

"Sorry…" I say as I stop wrenching through my hair. My head starts lightly throbbing from the hard brushing as I sheepishly walk out of the bathroom.

"April, you need to relax," Debbie says. "Stop worrying about everything so much. You need to sleep, eat a bit more, and catch up for school. I'll be taking care of Rachel myself."

"Okay."

I pick up my bag that I had snatched up when I was in my hurried flurry and pulled out an English text book to study. I figure I better bring my grades back up again if I plan to actually graduate by the age of forty one. (This is also considering the fact that the last time I tried graduating, I was thirty four.)

I flip through some pages in it to a current lesson and read a few sentences until I get bored. Honestly, the way that people actually TEACH English is what's so dang boring. All this crap with text books and stuff, it's not interesting. And people wonder why kids don't study…

After forcing myself to shove a bit more of the English book into my brain I switch to history. I still find it really pointless, but it's better than a pile of stuff on grammar. Really, I don't see much point in it. History consists of a bunch of old dead white guys and some wars fought such a long time ago that all that's left of said wars tend to disintegrate at just the slightest gust of air.

The only reason it can even remotely interest me is because I probably would wanna know about if, say, I get cast in a show around a time I haven't actually LIVED. Rent, for example, was in the nineties. I was there. I huffed a lot upholstery cleaner… on the other hand, Les Miserables is in Victorian France during some social movement or something.

Hey, look, I did pick up something from History. Wait, no, that was from like chapter one or something. I guess it just takes a while for those lessons to settle into my slow, worn out brain. All the stuff I've tried over years don't help either, I'll add.

I'm positioned so I'm laying on my stomach on Will's bed with the book laid out in front of me as the results of dashing around after waking up are already beginning to take affect on me. Between the ridiculously boring book, and the slowly invading drowsiness, I find myself almost falling asleep a few times until I actually do fall asleep.

I land in a dream with cast of Rent and Les Miserables, which isn't too surprising to me considering my train of thought today when an optimistic orphan, a dancing fat girl and a creepy guy in a mask wander into my dream. Then soon after, a traveling salesman scam artist and an uptight librarian wander into the dream along with two singing witches and three office women, one of which I'd swear was my auntie from Texas…

Once I believe the dream can't get any weirder is when it ends. I feel some gentle tapping in my shoulder and I realize that my face is in a text book. Crap… that's gonna show tonight.

I look up and I see that it's Debbie. "Hey, April, I thought since you fell asleep during lunch you'd want your food now. It's almost dinner."

"Thanks…" I say, sitting up and hopping down off the bed.

There it is! I just had to get those Broadway references in there, I mean it's April! Lol anyways I thought it'd be funny if April thought that Doralee Rhodes in 9 to 5 was her aunt. If April was born in the seventies it fits her age. Besides, I thought the last name similarities plus the short blond with the hint of a southern ring would be kind of funny.

~•~•~•~•~•~

_MRS. SCHUESTER'S POV_

_I hope April gets her stuff back on track again. This has really set her back and I know she's serious about graduating. She sits down at the dinner table and yawns, I can already tell she's not going to want to do homework tonight at all. Dinner's going pretty well, Will explains to April what she missed at school and she looks like she wants to cry when he tells her what all she needs to do. She's just overwhelmed right now, and I'm not really happy that he explained it the way he did. She'll be fine, I'll probably have to help her sort through it all._

Rachel hasn't really touched her food, but she's nibbled a few bites of her baked potato, "Come on Rachel, I really want you to eat a few more bites, it'll help you feel a lot better…"

She just stares at me and takes a tiny bite of her potato takes a sip of the Gatorade, I'm trying to get her to drink something with either vitamins in it, or electrolytes, because she's losing so much weight, and not eating, I want her to get something substantial in her body. She looks very disappointed in her self because she's actually taken a few more bites of the potato.

"It's not that bad now, is it?" I smile at her.

She shakes her head no, and Will smiles at her, so does April, who's eaten pretty much the entire potato. I've never seen someone as tiny as she is eat so much. Well, when you hardly eat for two weeks, I guess that would make her eat a little more than she normally does.

April looks at Will, "I seriously have all that school stuff to do by tomorrow?"

"Not tomorrow. Your teachers said that you have as much time as you need. They know what happened, and it's okay with them if you take your time…" he explains.

"Okay, cuz there's no way I could get all of that done tonight…" she replies.

"When you're ready to look at it, it's all on the coffee table…" he says to her.

She nods, and yawns, "I'm not awake enough to concentrate right now…"

"If you want, I can help you sort through it all and figure out what you should work on now, and what you can save for later." I say to her.

"Okay. I don't know if I can get up tomorrow…." she tells me.

"it's still early. Will, can you clean up the kitchen so I can help April? Even if we just get it all organized and maybe one assignment done, you can go to sleep as soon as it's finished…"

"Kay…" she yawns. Walking into the living room.

I meet her in the living room a few minutes later. And she's struggling to stay awake. "Hey, I know you're tired, but we've gotta do this. Just hang in there…" I smile.

She just looks at me and yawns, "I'm exhausted Debbie. There were days where I wouldn't get any sleep at all, it's hard…"

"I know. I'm gonna help you, it'll be okay. Just try to relax…" I tell her.

"Mmk…" she whimpers, glancing down at the pile of papers in front of us. I glance at her and I can tell she's completely warn out, now she's stressing over this school stuff, and she's still a little pale from when she was hardly eating.

"April… it's okay…" I reassure her, putting my arm on her shoulder. This is when I notice a tear brimming in her eye.

"Hey, Shhh… it'll be okay…" I slowly say, rubbing her back. She hasn't had any time to just slow down and breathe, and now that she does, it's all catching up to her at once. I notice Rachel walking into the guest bedroom out of the corner of my eye. For once she's not crying, which is a good thing. She's followed by Will coming into the living room a few minutes later.

"April? What's wrong?" He asks, seeing her tears.

"I'm just so tired…" she whimpers.

I hug her, "Shhhh… we can do this later. You need to relax, take a warm bath, or something, and definitely sleep."

"Let's just skip to the sleep…" she yawns.

"Honey, if you take a warm bath, it'll relax your muscles and you'll be able to sleep better…" I explain.

"Oh…"

"I'm sorry I basically dumped all this work on you today, I thought about waiting until tomorrow. And I probably should have." he says, apologizing to her for making her even more stressed out. She just leans into me and closes her eyes.

I gently rub her shoulder and Will just sighs. "I know you're trying Will. This has just been really hard on her. Everything's just caught up to her at once, and she's exhausted…"

He nods, and I look down, she's sleeping. Will smiles at me, "I guess the school stuff is gonna have to wait for later…"

"Don't worry about it… I'm thinking about keeping her here tomorrow too. She's not ready to go back yet…" I tell him.

"That's a good idea. She needs her rest."

"Hey, I need to go check on Rachel. Do you think you could get her into bed for me?" I ask him.

"yeah, sure." he smiles, standing up, and quietly moving to the couch. He then gently picks her up from the couch and carries her into the bedroom.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey, look! FINALLY got an update up! So, did anybody else here notice anything missing during Blame It On The Alcohol? That something being APRIL? I mean, look, it's perfect! Why is it that we've seen April everywhere EXCEPT in a bar? It's just ironic, and it's about time for Kristin to come back! Just sayin'. Emilee and Emily agreed with me on that, considering April is drinking all the time and Will was in a bar.  
DISCLAIMER: NO, we do NOT own this! I SO wish we did, but we don't. If we did, April would have gotten a job in a bar like I just wrote in a new story we're working on.

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**_Will's POV_

I feel terrible. I shouldn't have dumped all that work on her, she's exhausted. She's just fallen asleep on mom, and she wants me to help her get into bed. So I stand up, kneel down in front of her and gently sit her up and her eyes flutter open.

"Will…" she yawns.

"Shhhh. Relax, I'm gonna carry you…" I say to her.

She nods and leans into me and wraps her arms around my neck so I can pick her up. I gently pick her up and she leans her head into my chest. When we get into the bedroom her breathing has evened out and she's sleeping peacefully in my arms, I really don't want to put her down.

I sit down on the bed and she doesn't even move. I guess grading those quizzes will have to wait until I can get her to lay down. So I try to move myself so I'm sitting on the bed with my back against the headboard, and surprisingly she stays asleep. I gently unwrap her arms from my neck and she squirms and readjusts herself so she's basically laying on top of me. I have a feeling we will be like this for a while.

~•~•~•~•~•~

_Debbie's POV_

I feel really bad for April. She's so exhausted. But her eating has gotten better, I don't think there was a problem there, just the fact that she couldn't find the time she needed to eat, her sleeping is something I'm definitely worried about though. But I think Will's taking care of that now.

Rachel, on the other hand is still struggling. Her eating has gotten a little better. Since I've gotten here, she's started eating tiny portions of whatever I decide to make. Her sleep is still plagued with nightmares and she is still afraid to be alone most of the time. The threatening texts have basically stopped, and she only gets one or two every few days.

When I walk into her bedroom, she's sitting in the middle of the bed hugging her knees. "Hey, how're you feeling?" I ask.

"Okay…" she quietly replies.

"Rachel, I know this has been really hard for you, but I really want you to try to talk to me…" I calmly say to her.

She violently shakes her head no and tears well up in her eyes. "Rachel, hey, shhhh. It's okay…"

The tears are flowing freely now and the only thing I can make out is, "Don't make me talk… he'll k…kill me…"

I gently put my hand on her back, "No one is going to kill you sweetie. I want you to trust me on that okay.."

"But… you saw those messages… he… told me not to tell…" she cries.

"I know he did. That was just to scare you sweetie, you're safe here with us…" I reassure her.

"How can I be safe? He's still out there somewhere…" she asks.

"Honey, you're here in Ohio with us and for all we know he's probably still in New York." I explain.

"He could find me here…"

"Sweetie, just believe me when I tell you that you're safe and he's not going to hurt you again.." "you need to calm down and try to relax, it's really not good for you to be so worked up all the time…" I tell her.

She just stares at me when I tell her this, but I notice her shoulders loosen up a lot and she is trying to take some deep breaths. "honey, just keep breathing… slow, steady deep breaths…" her breathing slowly evens out and she's just sitting there, staring at me.

"I'm scared…" she whimpers.

"I know you are. It's okay to be scared, but it would help if you'd talk to me.." I explain.

"talk about what?" she skeptically asks.

"whatever you want to. That's why I'm here sweetie, to help you, and I really want you to talk about what's happened…" I reply.

"I don't know… if I can…" she quietly says.

"Just take your time, you can do this…" I smile, gently rubbing her shoulder.

"I… It hurt so bad…" she stutters.

"I'm so sorry sweetie, I wish this didn't have to happen to you, but you really should talk to me about it…"

"N… not right now…" she whispers.

"Rachel, I know it's been a while since its happened, but it's never too late to talk about it…" I explain.

She buries her head in her knees and starts crying. "Shhhh, sweetie… Shhhh. Try to calm down.."

"I'm so tired… and scared… and…" she whimpers.

"It's gonna be okay… why don't you take a nice warm shower and then we can try talking again…" I suggest.

"I'm scared…" she whines.

"I won't leave this room. I'll sit right outside the bathroom door…you're safe here…" I reassure her.

She slowly nods and I help her up off the bed and like I promised, I sit by the door while she showers. Its been almost an hour and she still hasn't turned the water off. It's concerning me just a little bit so I knock on the door, "Rachel, it's Debbie, are you okay?"

I think I hear her crying from the shower, but I'm not really sure due to the running water. "Rachel, sweetie…"

"I HATE THIS!" she screams.

"Honey, what is it that you hate?" I ask.

"EVERYTHING!" she cries back.

"Can I come in?" I gently ask.

"Fine…" she pouts. I slowly open the door and notice she's sitting on the floor of the shower huddled in a ball.

"Rachel… hey, let's get you out of the shower and dried off okay?" I calmly suggest.

"I can't get him off me…." she quietly admits.

"Honey, listen, sitting in the hot shower like that is not good for your skin, I want you to get dried off and then we can talk okay…" I explain.

"I still feel him touching every part of me… it hurts…" she cries.

"Honey, he's not here. You're safe, come on, I'm going to open the shower door, turn off the water and give you a towel to dry off with…" I say to her.

She only nods. I slowly open the door and turn the knobs so that the boiling hot water is no longer beating on her skin and bend down to give her the towel. She takes it and covers herself up with it, trying to hide the fact that she's shaking. "Now what?" she asks.

"I'm going to let you get dried off and dressed, then we can talk…" I suggest.  
"whatever…" she replies as I stand up.

"I'll be right outside like I was before, just open the door when you're done…" I explain.

"Okay…" she timidly replies.

I smile at her and walk out of the room. A few minutes later, she comes out dressed in Will's sweatpants, and one of his McKinley shirts. Her black hair is hanging loosely around her shoulders her skin is still red from sitting in the shower, now she's shivering. "Sweetie, let me dry your hair…"

She just looks at me and doesn't say anything. She hangs her head and I hear her sniffle. "Hey… I won't hurt you, I want to help you. I'll be really gentle…"

She hesitantly nods and I help her off the bed into the bathroom. "you're okay, you were really brave to come out here so we could help you…"

"I… didn't know where else to go. I was afraid the police weren't gonna believe me… and I didn't think my dads would understand…" she tells me.

"the police would have done whatever they could to make sure you were safe. That's their job… and I'm sure your dads would understand, it's never too late to call them, I'm sure they'd love to know you're okay…" I explain.

"Crap… they're probably wondering why I'm not performing anymore…." she replies.

"You don't have to tell them if you're not ready. But if you want to, I can help you…" I tell her.

"Maybe… not now. I just wanna be able to sleep through the night without any nightmares for once…" she says, yawning.

"After I dry your hair, you can talk to me. But I want you to take it slow, you don't have to tell me everything all at once…" I reassure her.

She nods and yawns again. "It was so scary…"

"I'm sure it was sweetie. I'm here to help you now, okay… lets get your hair done, then you can tell me whatever you want to…" I smile, gently rubbing her back. I then plug my hairdryer into the wall and start drying her long black curly hair. I'm glad she's started talking, I had a feeling it was just gonna take time for her to get over the initial shock of her attack. This is definitely a step in the right direction for her.


	14. Chapter 14

**HA! FINALLY GOT THE UPDTAE POSTED! SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG!**

**Written by me, mArTiNaMcBrIdErOx91. I hope you enjoy this chapter, we're really sorry about the long wait. April's POV written by Broadway Babe WA  
****DISCLAIMER: We own nothing. Except the plot of this story.**

* * *

_WILL'S APARTMENT_

_Debbie's POV_

Rachel finally calmed down after her shower and put in yet another Barbra Streisand movie. She was almost asleep on the couch when the movie was over when I hear a tiny, "Debbie.."

"Yeah honey?" I reply.

"I kinda wanna talk to my dads…" she mumbles.

"I think that would be a great idea Rach…" I smile.

"I'm sure they're wondering why I'm not on Broadway anymore.." she replies.

"Yeah, I think they would like to hear from you. They'd probably want to help you get better…" I tell her.

"I don't know how to tell them… should I call? Or go over there? I'm kinda nervous…" she mumbles. It's understandable why she's nervous, she's been here with us for more than two weeks, but hasn't let them know she's back in Ohio.

"Why don't you give them a call, and say you want them to either come here, or we can go there to talk to them…" I suggest.

"Fine… I'm scared…" she quietly says.

"That's okay, you can tell them. Just take your time when you do…" I reassure her.

"I… I'm gonna call them…" she mumbles.

"Okay, do you want me to stay with you?" I ask.

She just nods as she starts to dial her cell phone, but slams it shut halfway through the number. "Can't do it…"

I start rubbing her back, "it's okay. I know it's not easy, do you wanna try again tomorrow?"

She nods and puts her phone back on the coffee table. "I'm hungry…" she whimpers.

"Okay, what can I get you to eat?" I ask, thank god she's finally decided she wants to eat. I've been really worried about her.

"I don't care…" she replies, well, at least she's said she's hungry. That's a big improvement from the past few days.

"I'm gonna bring you some pasta okay…" I tell her, getting up.

"Fine…" she mutters, and leans back on the couch. I know she's worn out, this is gonna help her.

When I get to the living room with her pasta, she forces herself to smile at me and takes it from me.

She looks at it for a while and I just smile at her. after a few minutes she finally nibbles on a few pieces. She makes a face at first but then smiles when she realizes she feels better. She keeps eating and soon the entire bowl is empty.

"that's good sweetie, do you want any more?" I ask her.

She shakes her head no. But that's okay, it's a big improvement for her. She actually looks more relaxed… I know she's feeling better since she's got something in her system now.

"I don't know why I couldn't do it…" she whimpers.

"you'll be able to. I know it's not easy talking about it.."

"whatever… I dunno why I just ate that either.." she whimpers.

"you were hungry, it's good that you ate. It'll help you feel better.." I explain.

She just looks at me. She's not too sure how to respond. So she just leans back on the couch. I'm not gonna push her to talk too much right now, but she's taken a big step in the right direction. Hopefully she'll eat a little more at dinner tonight.

"I'm just gonna sleep…" she says.

"alright, I'm just gonna read in the other room. Let me know if you need me.." I tell her as I help her get situated on the couch.

two hours later, Will and April get home. April still looks exhausted, but doesn't seem as stressed out. I soon learn that there's gonna be a glee performance and April's starting to get excited about it. I know she loves singing and is really good at it too. I tell them that Rachel's sleeping and that she'd finally eaten today. I decide not to mention her dads right now because I don't want them pressuring her into telling them if she's not ready.

"I have so much to do…" April whines.

"I know, I can help you sort through it and decide what needs to be done first." I reassure her. I'm gonna make sure she gets things done, but still has time to relax.

"mmk… I'm kinda hungry" she says, heading into the kitchen.

"there's some pasta left, I can heat that up" I suggest.

"whatever, I just wanna eat" she replies, at least I don't have to worry about her eating habits, I just think it was the lack of time she had to herself and constantly taking care of Rachel.

She smiles as I hand her the bowl of pasta and doesn't hesitate to start eating. She asks will to get the water out of her bag and he hands it to her. April starts telling me about the performance and hinting ideas at Will for songs. I'm glad she's got something to look forward to at school. She needs something good to come out of this, and I think it'll help her.

Will doesn't turn down any of her suggestions, which is a good thing, but I don't think he's gonna use all of them. He tells her they can share them with the club and see what their ideas are.

Later that night around dinner time, Rachel wakes up feeling a little better, and is actually willing to eat some of what I'd made. I don't force her, but she does hesitate a little bit. After we eat, I help April sort through her school stuff, which was a lot less than she thought, and she was able to get some of it done. She's gonna be able to catch up, it'll take her a few days though.

Will has no problems getting April into bed, but Rachel is another story. She fights, and freaks out because she's still having nightmares of the attack. I have to sit with her until she falls into a very restless sleep, but at least she's trying.

April's doing much better, I really don't see any problems with getting her to eat or sleep, except the occasional nightmare that she does have. She will be able to finish school, but will need a little more support than most of the kids in her class because she has been through so much.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: written by me, mArTiNaMcBrIdErOx91. I hope you enjoy this chapter, we're really sorry about the long wait. April's POV written by Broadway Babe WA**

**DISCLAIMER: We own nothing. Except the plot of this story.**

* * *

WILL'S APARTMENT

_Debbie's POV_

Rachel finally calmed down after her shower and put in yet another Barbra Streisand movie. She was almost asleep on the couch when the movie was over when I hear a tiny, "Debbie.."

"Yeah honey?" I reply.

"I kinda wanna talk to my dads…" she mumbles.

"I think that would be a great idea Rach…" I smile.

"I'm sure they're wondering why I'm not on Broadway anymore.." she replies.

"Yeah, I think they would like to hear from you. They'd probably want to help you get better…" I tell her.

"I don't know how to tell them… should I call? Or go over there? I'm kinda nervous…" she mumbles. It's understandable why she's nervous, she's been here with us for more than two weeks, but hasn't let them know she's back in Ohio.

"Why don't you give them a call, and say you want them to either come here, or we can go there to talk to them…" I suggest.

"Fine… I'm scared…" she quietly says.

"That's okay, you can tell them. Just take your time when you do…" I reassure her.

"I… I'm gonna call them…" she mumbles.

"Okay, do you want me to stay with you?" I ask.

She just nods as she starts to dial her cell phone, but slams it shut halfway through the number. "Can't do it…"

I start rubbing her back, "it's okay. I know it's not easy, do you wanna try again tomorrow?"

She nods and puts her phone back on the coffee table. "I'm hungry…" she whimpers.

"Okay, what can I get you to eat?" I ask, thank god she's finally decided she wants to eat. I've been really worried about her.

"I don't care…" she replies, well, at least she's said she's hungry. That's a big improvement from the past few days.

"I'm gonna bring you some pasta okay…" I tell her, getting up.

"Fine…" she mutters, and leans back on the couch. I know she's worn out, this is gonna help her.

When I get to the living room with her pasta, she forces herself to smile at me and takes it from me.

She looks at it for a while and I just smile at her. after a few minutes she finally nibbles on a few pieces. She makes a face at first but then smiles when she realizes she feels better. She keeps eating and soon the entire bowl is empty.

"that's good sweetie, do you want any more?" I ask her.

She shakes her head no. But that's okay, it's a big improvement for her. She actually looks more relaxed… I know she's feeling better since she's got something in her system now.

"I don't know why I couldn't do it…" she whimpers.

"you'll be able to. I know it's not easy talking about it.."

"whatever… I dunno why I just ate that either.." she whimpers.

"you were hungry, it's good that you ate. It'll help you feel better.." I explain.

She just looks at me. She's not too sure how to respond. So she just leans back on the couch. I'm not gonna push her to talk too much right now, but she's taken a big step in the right direction. Hopefully she'll eat a little more at dinner tonight.

"I'm just gonna sleep…" she says.

"alright, I'm just gonna read in the other room. Let me know if you need me.." I tell her as I help her get situated on the couch.

Two hours later, Will and April get home. April still looks exhausted, but doesn't seem as stressed out. I soon learn that there's gonna be a glee performance and April's starting to get excited about it. I know she loves singing and is really good at it too. I tell them that Rachel's sleeping and that she'd finally eaten today. I decide not to mention her dads right now because I don't want them pressuring her into telling them if she's not ready.

"I have so much to do…" April whines.

"I know, I can help you sort through it and decide what needs to be done first." I reassure her. I'm gonna make sure she gets things done, but still has time to relax.

"mmk… I'm kinda hungry" she says, heading into the kitchen.

"there's some pasta left, I can heat that up" I suggest.

"whatever, I just wanna eat" she replies, at least I don't have to worry about her eating habits, I just think it was the lack of time she had to herself and constantly taking care of Rachel.

She smiles as I hand her the bowl of pasta and doesn't hesitate to start eating. She asks will to get the water out of her bag and he hands it to her. April starts telling me about the performance and hinting ideas at Will for songs. I'm glad she's got something to look forward to at school. She needs something good to come out of this, and I think it'll help her.

Will doesn't turn down any of her suggestions, which is a good thing, but I don't think he's gonna use all of them. He tells her they can share them with the club and see what their ideas are.

Later that night around dinner time, Rachel wakes up feeling a little better, and is actually willing to eat some of what I'd made. I don't force her, but she does hesitate a little bit. After we eat, I help April sort through her school stuff, which was a lot less than she thought, and she was able to get some of it done. She's gonna be able to catch up, it'll take her a few days though.

Will has no problems getting April into bed, but Rachel is another story. She fights, and freaks out because she's still having nightmares of the attack. I have to sit with her until she falls into a very restless sleep, but at least she's trying.

April's doing much better, I really don't see any problems with getting her to eat or sleep, except the occasional nightmare that she does have. She will be able to finish school, but will need a little more support than most of the kids in her class because she has been through so much.

I'm still sitting with Rachel since she asked me to, and it's really hard for her to relax. I just wish she'd open up a little more about what happened so we could really help her. I want to get her into counseling but I just don't think she's ready.

* * *

**A/N: Please review! We want to know your opinions and ideas of what should happen next. And we want to know if anyone is still interested in this story.**


	16. Chapter 16

**sorry it's been such a long time… sooooo busy… here ya go!  
**

**A/N: written by me, mArTiNaMcBrIdErOx91. I hope you enjoy this chapter, we're really sorry about the long wait. April's POV written by Broadway Babe WA**

**DISCLAIMER: We own nothing. Except the plot of this story.**

* * *

**WILL'S APARTMENT**

_Debbie's POV_

Will has no problems getting April into bed, but Rachel is another story. She fights, and freaks out because she's still having nightmares of the attack. I have to sit with her until she falls into a very restless sleep, but at least she's trying.

April's doing much better, I really don't see any problems with getting her to eat or sleep, except the occasional nightmare that she does have. She will be able to finish school, but will need a little more support than most of the kids in her class because she has been through so much.

I'm still sitting with Rachel since she asked me to, and it's really hard for her to relax. I just wish she'd open up a little more about what happened so we could really help her. I want to get her into counseling but I just don't think she's ready.

**THE NEXT MORNING  
**

_Will's POV_

I only heard Rachel scream once last night, which is good. Thankfully it didn't wake April up, she was sleeping like a baby all night. She even slept through my alarm, which she almost never does.

I go into the kitchen to see my mom making breakfast. "I think April should stay home again.."

"I really want her to…" she replies.

"she was sound asleep all night, she barely moved. And she slept through my alarm, which she never does. So I really don't wanna wake her up" I tell her.

"that's fine. Rachel actually got some sleep last night. But she still won't talk about anything though" she tells me.

"I'm gonna talk to Emma today and see if she knows anybody that would be willing to work with Rachel, we both know she needs counseling." I say. This is not easy for her to deal with and she needs somebody to help her work through these feelings.

"she'll barely talk to me, so I'm not sure how well that'll work, but she really does need it. I won't talk to her about it until after you've talked to Emma." She says.

I glance into the hallway and notice April dragging herself into the kitchen. She pulls herself up onto the stool and glances at the cinnamon rolls my mom is pulling out of the oven.

I walk over to her and rub her back, "you can stay home today if you want to.."

"I've already missed once this week… I can't. Science quiz." She yawns.

My mom puts a cinnamon roll and a big glass of orange juice in front of her and she smiles.

"sweetie, you're exhausted. Your teachers know what's been going on and they won't be mad if you take another day to rest." I explain to her.

She takes a big gulp of the orange juice, "but, I don't want people to think I dropped out again. And there's that Glee performance, I have to be there to practice…"

"you've only missed one day. It's not a big deal…" I reassure her.

She yawns, "I'll be fine Will. I need to go to school"

I rub her back, "I'm leaving in twenty minutes, think you can be ready?"

She nods, and takes another bite of her cinnamon roll before getting up to go into the bedroom. Mom walks into the guest bedroom to go check on Rachel. I wait another ten minutes and decide to check on April. The clothes she was planning on wearing are laid out on the bed, and she's laying down without any covers on, sound asleep. I cover her up with the blankets and hang her clothes on the closet door. I turn out the light as I grab my bag to leave for school.

_Debbie's POV_

I managed to get Rachel to eat some cereal and drink a small glass of juice. Will comes in to tell me he's going to school, and that April fell asleep again. I get Rachel settled with a movie and decide to call Greg and let him know how things are going.

After I talked to him for about an hour, I notice April come into the living room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"where's Will?" she yawns.

"he went to school. You fell asleep again after breakfast and we both decided you really needed the rest" I tell her.

"I was fine. He could have woken me up and I would have gone to school" she says.

"I don't think so, you could barely hold your eyes open at breakfast and Will told me you were sound asleep all night" I tell her.

"whatever. I guess I don't have a choice now.." she pouts, sitting next to me.

I gently rub her back, "maybe this afternoon we can work on some of the stuff you need to turn in.."

"fine…" she yawns, curling up on the couch.

I put a blanket over her and she just smiles at me. "want me to put a movie in?"

She just yawns again, "is this what it's like to have a mom?"

My heart breaks for her when she asks me this question. She's nearly 40 years old and has no idea what it's like to have a family.

I gently run my fingers through her hair, "yeah sweetie, it is…"

"I've always wanted one since I was little…" she sadly says.

I keep running my fingers through my hair, "I know sweetie, sometimes things just happen"

She sighs and pulls the blanket around her. "it's not fair! I didn't do anything wrong… at least I think I didn't"

"I know it isn't fair. But I want you to believe me when I tell you that it wasn't your fault. You did absolutely nothing wrong. It wasn't your choice when they left" I tell her.

She whimpers, "nobody's ever said that…"

Now I kinda have a better understanding of why she has such a huge fear of people leaving her and had a hard time accepting help from other people. She was just abandoned and nobody ever cared enough to explain to her that it wasn't her decision for them to leave or that she had nothing to do with it.

I keep running my fingers through her hair. "I really wish someone would have sweetie. Maybe things would have been easier for you"

She gives me a small nod. "I never really told anybody anyways. Definitely not teachers. I tried really hard to make it look like everything was perfectly normal, when really, I had nowhere to live and nobody that wanted me.."

"were you scared of people finding out?" I ask. most of the time that's why people don't talk. I know that Rachel's that way right now. She's too scared to say more than a few words at a time.

"yeah.. I didn't want them to call the police" she sighs.

"It can be kinda hard dealing with them when you're by yourself. So I understand why you didn't wanna tell" I say.

She just sighs, "there were a couple times in the beginning I almost did. But I just starting convincing myself that it would be okay.."

I gently rub her shoulder and she sits up to hug me. it's a really good thing she's talking about this, it seems like it's been pent up inside of her for way too long. I'm not gonna pressure her to say much more if she doesn't want to.

I gently hug her and rub her back. She's not crying, but I do hear a tiny whimper or two. I put a movie in but never pressed play after she started talking. Since Rachel's been occupied for a while now with some movies, I can focus a little more attention on April.

"everything's gonna be okay, I promise" I quietly say to her, rubbing her back.

She sighs and rests her head on my shoulder, grabbing the remote. She just needs a positive role model in her life for once, and somebody that is willing enough to show that they care.

I can tell she's starting to trust me because I know she wouldn't open up to just anybody about this. I doubt she's even told Will. I'm not gonna bring it up to him because I want her to be able to keep her trust in me. If she wants to tell him, she can.

She falls asleep during the movie so I gently lay her down on the couch, and go to check on Rachel. She's just laying in the bed staring at the ceiling. I don't want to startle her by trying to get her attention. I can't get that conversation I just had with April out of my mind. She was just a little girl and her family just had to abandon her. Things could have been a lot better for her now if someone just took the time to show they cared.


End file.
